and even the young john f kennedy flits through the pages of "hitlerland" with a short visit. of course, his main entries into the diaries haveo do with this "young bundle of fu he pick upt. this is a germany that is incredibly pro-american. yes, germany had, the u.s. had entered the war against germany but late in the game. the main characteristic about the americans had was that they were not the french. while americans were sympathetic, ofteno economically in terms of trying to getm and just cultuy. and nowhere in europe was americanization what we now often call globalization more evident than in germany. everything from mass productions to hollywood productions to even the first traffic lights and plots were seen as creeping anti-americanism and largely welcomed. so you had all of this going on, which made this american community very, very big and very attractive to what they saw. and at the same time, though, you had the extremists. and one extremist was this local agitator in munich called adolf hitler. i asked myself who were the first americans to meet hitler at dand

hitlerland, what i try to do is put you, the reader, and myself in the shoes of these people who were there, the american diplomats, journalists, travelers, writers and say, okay, here is what they observed. you be the judge. what did they get right? what did they get wrong? and frankly, think of what would you have understood at the time? we like to think we would have figured it all out, i came away with a lot of doubts. now, it's worth pointing out because of what happened in the '30s. what happened in the '20s in germany where my book starts. my book starts right after the end of world war i, through the rise of hitler, through the third reicht, until 1941, pearl harbor and the tour of last americans in germany before they are exchanged for the american dip o diplomats. yes, you have a movie like cabaret, but you do not have a sense of how much of an attraction germany was to americans. and it was an attraction for all sorts of reasons. it was a defeated, humiliated country, 2 million soldiers had died in world war i, the economy was in complete freefall, we know the stories of hy

and eventh name "hitlerland" is not a proct of my imagination.it's t fst timi discovered that erican correspondence ininn informally about this country as hitlerland. this w not -- this was long before disneyland. because there have been so many great books about this period. great historians and so many in between, i would never have attempted to write a stray history of this period. over rode ground and e going it would be hard to match. but the reason i undertook this was two-fold, first of all, there started to be more and more books about americans and pairs and london, and of course, we all know movies like midnight in pairs and all that about the '20s which catch the popular imagination and i find them really fun too. but the more i thought about it, and the more my wife prompted me to think about it, i realize that nobody had really looked in any detail at the stories of t americans. there'd been lots of individual memoirs, biographies that touched on the lives of americans, we touched on some of them, but not the whole experience. i bega

so hitlerland is something that interests me greatly. and being asked to give an introduction of andrew nagorski was something that i was very happy to do. and then i realized i needed help on his bio. i want to read you rather than do it extemporaneously so i don't make a series of mistakes on this. i always knew him in terms of his eminent father, who played a major role at the council of former relations and then in his association with newsweek which ran for many years. i don't think i'm going to elaborate on all the things that he did. that's not why you came. he did all kinds of substantial ly innovative things, especially in coordinating and developing the network of newsweeks throughout the world and in poland, russia, argentina. and was himself a very respected voice of wisdom and insighted. he served in berlin for a number of years. i think bill told me they actually shared an office at one point in berlin. his wife is polish and charming. his birthplace was scotland. he's very international, am i right? he's very international

kennedy flips through the pages of hitlerland with a short visit. of course, his main entries into his diaries have to do with this "young bundle of fun" he picked up at the border. but the -- and this is a term, you know, that's also incredibly pro-american. yes, the u.s. had entered the war against germany at the end of world war i, but very late in the game. and the main attribute of americans as far as most germans was concerned was they were not the french. they were seen as vindictive victors and who were demanding reparations. while americans were sympathetic to them economically in terms of trying to get them back on their feet and just culturally. and nowhere in europe was americanization what we now often call globalization more eminent than in germany where everything from mass production to hollywood productions to even the first traffic lights were seen as creeping anti-americanism and largely welcomed. so you had all of this going on, which this american community very, very big and very attractive to what they saw. and, at the same ti

but i'll say in my defense, hitlerland, bill, is subtle about introducing hitler. we do not see him from the front. and we look over his shoulder, but the serious side that i think this design, which is the credit to the credit of the designer at simon and shuster is showing that i'm trying to present a different perspective. and the title is not a product of my imagination, it's something that i discovered for the first time in researching this book that american correspondence in germany in the '30s, were talking informally about this country as hitlerland. so this was not -- this was long before disneyland. so, you had this, and so, because there have been so many wonderful books about this period, great historians, i would never have attempted to just write a straight history of this period. i think that would be going over well troddened ground and i would be hard to match it. but the reason i undertook this was two-fold, first of all, there started to be more and more books about americans and pairs and london, and of course, we all know movies like midnight

which i write about in "hitl "hitlerland" which is an interesting dynamic itself. in terms of saying, this is something different, i understand what they are trying to do. you know, the cavorting is not quite the right word, but think of this scene that i describe in the book. richard helms, a name that is familiar to a number of you because he becomes the director of the cia, in the '30s, a wire service reporter in germany. during the nueremberg rallies, hitler would allow a couple of journalists to ride in the carbcar, behind hitler. and he was one of those journali journalists, he describes the scene where he is in the car and there's an explosion of welcome. he said that i had to almost pinch myself not to be carried away by the emotions. even though i knew what was going on. imagine if you were a minor official, and given this honor, you would be enraptured and your faith in the great leader would be total. so, again, they were not cavorting but they saw it from the inside. and they -- sometimes and in a couple of cases, for instance, i have also a scene inspe

"newsweek" journalist and author andrew nagorski has set out to correct that with his new book "hitlerland: american witnesses to the nazi rise to power." it's the story of a handful of americans who were the first to take the measure of hitler and his followers, showing how difficult it is to see the future when caught up in the present-- even in the eye of the storm. i spoke with andrew nagorski about his book and the times. andy nagorski, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, margaret. >> warner: paint a picture for us, first of all, of berlin, in the '20s and '30s. as hitler was rising to power, what was it like... what was it like for the americans there? >> warner: first of all, you have to remember, this was a country, a city that was totally devastated after world war i. the germans had lost something like two million men, the economy was in shambles, we've all heard the stories about wheelbarrows full of money because of hyper-inflation. people were very demoralized. but at the same time, there was an incredibly vibrant scene. there was new freedom in the arts, in politics, in ever